


A New Lease On Life

by IowaGuy1979



Series: The Long Tomorrow [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Immortality, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:36:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29627817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IowaGuy1979/pseuds/IowaGuy1979
Summary: It wasn't goddamn fair!Why did two amazing people have to die, to save this wretched town?For constant Bookmarker, itgotworse26
Relationships: Kate Marsh/Chloe Price
Series: The Long Tomorrow [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178624
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	A New Lease On Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Itgotworse26](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itgotworse26/gifts).



Max walked out of the cemetery, right behind Joyce and David. She had killed her best friend, her Captain. Yeah, just like in the alternate timeline, Chloe had told her to do it. That didn’t absolve her of the guilt, though.

And poor Kate. She had jumped, just like in the timeline that Max had erased. But, the Auto Max that had existed between the day of Chloe’s death and the day of her funeral had been so focused on Chloe, that she had almost forgotten Kate existed.

Two deaths that were on Max’s hands. Three, if you counted the Auto Max that was erased when she came back.

Arcadia Bay was safe, and all it took was the deaths of two amazing, unforgettable, women.

“It’s not goddamn FAIR!”, Max shouted, alone in Chloe’s room. Joyce and David had went to their jobs. Max envied them, for being able to take their minds off of things, even for a little bit. 

“Fuck all of this! Fuck this town! Fuck Jeffershit and Nathan Prescott!” With a scream, she threw her fist at the wall by the bedroom door.

As it made contact, rather than shatter, a unicorn poster appeared in place of the graffiti. Max stared. It was a poster that Chloe had had, before William had died. She touched it, and it crinkled. “….what the fuck?”

Taking a deep breath, she walked downstairs and out the front door. “If I’m not losing my mind, then, I have my powers back, maybe? That was definitely the same poster from years ago.”, she said.

Max looked at Chloe’s broken down truck. She held her hand out, just as she always did. A weird bubble enveloped it, and she could see the paint becoming brighter, going back to a tan color, rather than being multicolored!

She lowered her hand. The truck looked like it had just come off of the assembly line. “So, I can reverse objects back in time? Holy shit!”

She took a deep breath to steady herself. “This sounds so wrong, but, maybe….maybe” She jumped into the truck. Folding the visor down, the keys fell into her hand. She drove off to the cemetery.

She knelt in front of the freshly dug grave, putting her hand on it. “I’m not sure if this will even work, and I’m probably going to go to hell for this, because I’m pretty sure that whoever is in charge of the Universe doesn’t like necromancy. But, I need to try.”

Focusing on her memories of Chloe, on them playing in their pirate fort. Memories of going on that scavenger hunt, twice. The look in Chloe’s eyes, when Max had said she’d never leave her, again. There were no sounds, no movement.

Everything snapped back to normal, as Max heard a loud gasp. Whipping her head around to look behind her, her jaw dropped.

Standing behind her, was Chloe. Looking just as she had on the day she had been shot. “What the hell? Max? Max Caulfield? Where’s the bathroom?”

“Chloe!” she shouted. “It worked! You’re alive!”

“The fuck do you mean? Also, good to see you, after five goddamned years of radio silence, you bitch!”

Max’s hands fell to her sides. Of course. This was the Chloe from the bathroom. The one that didn’t know Max had came back. The one that hated her. But, still, having to start from square one with her, was a damned sight better than her being dead.

As Chloe ranted and vented her spleen, Max thought about the other life that this damned town had taken. Sweet, kind Kate. Max could hear her violin playing, even now. She had been buried here, as well. Max held her hand out yet again.

“What the hell are you doing, Caulfield? You going mental?”, the bluenette yelled, scowling.

Everything froze. Chloe looked away from Max’s grimacing face, to see that the wind had stopped, as had the sounds of the cemetery. “Wh...what the fucking hell?”, she whispered.

A bright white flash of light appeared a few feet away from Max. The smaller girl lowered had hand, and the breeze blew over them, once again.

Max turned to where the flash had happened, and, there sat Kate Marsh, looking dazed.

“I..I was just on the rooftop! And falling...and..”, she looked around. “Why am I in the cemetery, Max?”. Chloe turned back to her ex best friend, and gasped.

Max Caulfield was fading away, just like in the picture in Back To The Future.

Chloe reached a hand out to her. Her hand was fading, as well.

She ran over to Max. “Max? What the fuck’s going on?”

The brunette moaned softly. “I guess I’m going to pay for what I did. But, the price was worth it, Price.” she chuckled. 

Chloe waved her hand in front of Max’s face. “It’s happening to me, too!”

Max stared in horror. “No! Not...supposed to happen! Not fair!”, she growled.

“I’m scared, Max. What’s going on?”. Kate, too, was starting to fade away.

“I guess the Universe says none of us should be alive, is my take.”, Chloe smiled, darkly.

“Not.. fucking… FAIR!”, Max shouted. Her eyes glowed an electric blue, lightning crackling from them. “I’ve done so much to save you! And you, too, Kate! But, if you can’t be here, then...”

Chloe stumbled back. “What the shit, Max? What...are you?”

“I’m someone that has gone through a week twice to save you, Bluebeard. I’m Max Caulfield, and I make time my bitch! ... sorry, Kate, for swearing.”

The short blonde laughed, in the same way someone would laugh if they were face to face with a god.

She concentrated, and Chloe and Kate returned to normal.

“I think this is it, for me.”, she said. “It was all worth it, though. And I think I’ve figured it out.”

“Figured what out, Max?”, Kate said.

“You can’t be here, either of you. You were meant to die, now. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t exist.”

“Max?”, Chloe said, her face showing confusion and sadness.

“I can’t stay. But, wherever you end up, remember, I did this because I love both of you, in different ways, but still...”

The cemetery began to fade into a white void.

Tears streamed down Kate and Chloe’s faces. “You can’t go!”, Chloe yelled “What’s a Captain without their First Mate?”

As both Max and the cemetery dissolved, Max said “Take care of each other. And, Chloe Price? Don’t you forget about me”

“Never!”, Chloe sobbed, as it all went away.

Cambridge, England

Friday, August 28, 1349

Isaac peeked out of his front window. A bright flash had shone through the glass, though there had been no appearance of bad weather. He stepped away. He was damned well going to stay inside. The Plague had come to Cambridge recently, with the Castle side being almost dead.

As the white light faded, Kate and Chloe looked around.

“Max??”, the bluenette said, looking around. 

“You’re...Chloe, right? I don’t think she’s here.”

Chloe glanced at Kate’s clothes. “Whatever, Church Girl. She’s gotta be here, somewhere!”

They weren’t in America anymore, that was certain. Kate saw the buildings that surrounded the alley they were in. They looked like that picture of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater Kate had seen, once.

“C..Chloe? I think we’re in England.”

“What the fuck do you mean ‘in England’?”

A loud voice from the street bellowed, “BRING OUT YOUR DEAD! BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!”

As the two looked to the street about 50 feet away, a cart creaked by. It was filled with bodies.

Kate looked away, terror in her eyes.

“..Holy fucking shit...”, the taller woman, whispered. Even from that far away, they could smell the corpses. She sat down on the cobblestones. “Max sent us back in time...”, she said, her eyes wide in shock.

“Well, well, well.”, a rough voice said. “Looks like we gots us some pigeons to pluck. Weird rags you two got. Must be worth somethin’”

A tall, fat man, with dark greasy hair. entered the alley from behind them. He was flanked by a skinny redheaded man, and a short blonde man. They all had lesions on their faces and necks, that were white, and black around the edges. Some of their fingers looked dead and blackened. The blonde’s left eye was cloudy and gray.

“Just.. just stay the fuck back.”, Chloe said, panic in her voice.

“We’re rather hard up on our luck, you see”, the redhead said, sneering. “Can’t you help some poor fellows out?”

The tall man rushed forward, or, as best he could, given his condition, towards Kate.

“No, please leave me alone!”, she cried.

“It’s better this way, innit?”, he said, as he grabbed her left arm. “Better a knife in the ribs, than this.” He motioned to himself.

“NO!”, Kate shouted, and shoved him. Given her slight build, there wasn’t much strength behind it.

The man screamed, as he flew through the air and landed against the far wall.

The smaller blonde man, seeing this, gave a shout of anger, and ran at Chloe.

Chloe was staring at the other man’s shattered body lying against the wall, when she felt a pinprick on her left breast. Looking down, she saw the blonde collapsed on the ground, a bent knife in his hand. That pinprick had been the knife, stabbing her.

“W...what the hell?”, she stuttered.

The remaining two men slowly processed that they had seen two young women, one throwing their mate Alfred against the wall with hardly any force, and one that had shrugged off Thomas’s knife. And did the only thing they really could, they ran from the alley in fear.

“What.. what happened, Chloe? What’s going on?”, the other girl fell to the ground, crying.

Chloe walked over and bent down, holding her close. “I..I don’t know, Kate. I don’t fucking know...”

Plymouth, England

Saturday, August 28, 1649

Chloe stepped through the front door of the house. It had been one hell of a damn ride, since they had appeared in Cambridge. Both she and Kate looked exactly as they had back in Arcadia Bay. Kate had speculated that Max, using the last of her power before sending them back, had given them the immortality that had let them survive these last three centuries.

As she stepped into the kitchen, Kate was stirring a pot at the stove. “Hello, Chloe. How’re you?” Using her actual name, rather than the Samuel that she went by outside the house, meant that they were alone. Kate went by Victoria, for now.

“Better, now that I’m home.” She was currently working with a local clock maker, as the internal combustion engine wasn’t around, yet.  
She was also somewhat popular with some of the scientists in the area. But then, having several centuries of future science to draw on helped.

“Oh, and happy 300th anniversary, baby.”, the smaller blonde smiled.

They were never totally sure of the day that they had arrived in the past, so they adopted August 28 as the day.

It had taken them a while to get the English accent correct, so they had gotten some weird looks for the first few years. Given all they had had to rely on were each other, the two blondes had fallen in love about 15 years after they had arrived. 

They had taken some clothes off of the recently deceased, in order to fit in. Chloe had washed her Manic Panic hair dye out during a storm the day after they arrived. “Dying your hair won’t become popular for a few more centuries”, Kate had giggled..

They had settled into a routine. Every decade or so, they’d move from city to city, between the Continent and England. 

Chloe usually took more physically oriented jobs, as well as any military roles, as she could pass for a man easier than Kate could. Kate certainly didn’t mind the muscles that Chloe got as a result of doing so, not that Kate was helpless herself. 

Both could easily defend themselves, as their first day in the past had shown. Kate kept their home orderly, and sometimes taught the local children. She also sold the paintings she made in order to keep her artistic skills sharp.

Later that night, the couple were sitting by the fireplace. Kate was knitting some shirts, and Chloe was reading a book about optics.

A knock sounded on their front door. As Chloe opened it, a tall, rather portly man stood in front of them. He appeared to be a parson.

“Would you kind folks be willing to donate some shillings to the poor?”

“Well, it is rather late at night...”, Kate said.

A large knife appeared in the man’s right hand. “And by the poor, I mean myself, of course.”

As the man barged in past Chloe, they both noted a resemblance to the short blonde man who had attacked them in Cambridge, all those decades ago.

She told Kate. “You want to take this one, honey?” Kate shrugged and nodded.

“What’s this? What kind of a man cowers behind the apron of his wife?”, the would be robber said.

“A man that knows that his wife can kick ass”, Chloe smirked.

He sneered, and moved towards Kate, who quickly side stepped him.

As he blundered past her, she grabbed him by his right arm. He stabbed at her left arm, his knife shattering on impact.

As the fool’s eyes widened in disbelief, Kate grabbed his coat with her other hand and threw him out their front door. Chloe slammed it shut behind her.

“If you had taken care of him, we’d probably be out a kitchen table and maybe a window. You tend to get rather wild.”

Desire sparked in the taller blonde’s eyes. “It gets me so goddamn hot when you kick ass, love. Let’s go get wild.” 

They headed towards the bedroom, snuffing candles out along the way.

Portland, Oregon

United States Of America

Monday, September 21, 1970

Chloe was looking out of the side window of the patrol car. About 630 years of life had sharpened her survival skills.

“Hey, Madsen! What the hell are you thinking about?”, a voice from the driver’s side said.

‘..Well, not sharp enough, I guess’, she thought

“About how I gotta protect your lard ass every patrol, Edelson!”

The man merely smiled back. There were many cops in the city that didn’t care for women on the force. Saving David Edelson’s life on their first patrol together, from a robbery at a diner, had cemented their partnership.

She glanced over. The name David fit, as her partner looked almost exactly like David Madsen, just a bit heavier. The centuries of her life, especially the various military stints, had given her a new appreciation for the man she had called Step fuhrer, so long, long ago.

She and Kate had wondered for many years, if they had gotten sent back into their own past, or to another timeline. The founding of Garibaldi, where Arcadia Bay had been, had put that question to rest.

As they drove past Portland State University, they saw a group of students shouting “1! 2! 3! 4! We don’t need your fucking war!”, and waving placards saying Give Peace A Chance”, among other things, in front of the main campus building. 

A radio next to one of the students blared out [a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xaw--HWHecg)

“Goddamn hippies!”, Edelson snarled. “They’d let Brezhnev and his Moscow gang walk right into the country!”

Chloe merely nodded, not wanting to start anything. While she did hold some distaste for hippies, her long life had showed her that nothing was black and white.

..hippies. She looked at the date in the car’s logbook. September 21.... Memories of the best friend, her First Mate, who had saved her and Kate by sending them back in time, flooded to the surface of her mind.

She coughed in order to hold back the tears. Neither the Caulfields, nor the Prices, nor anyone they had known in Arcadia Bay existed in this timeline.

“You OK, Madsen?”

“Yeah, spit went down the wrong pipe.”

The man nodded, and they continued their patrol.

“Kater Tot, I’m home!”, Chloe called, in a passable impersonation of Ricky from I Love Lucy.

Kate walked out of the bedroom of their house. Chloe walked over and laid her head on Kate’s shoulder. “You.. you know what day it is, right?”, she said, sad eyes shining.

“Yeah, the 21st.” They walked into the kitchen, where a cake that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAX. awaited. Chloe walked to the fridge and pulled out a Guinness, while Kate sat down, with her cup of tea.

After Chloe sat down, they raised their bottle and cup. “To Max ‘Never Maxine’ Caulfield, my best friend. Who saved us both. We’ll never forget you..” They said together, “We love you, Max. Happy Birthday.”

Chloe’s head sank to the table, as the tears flowed. Kate patted her mate’s hand, tears flowing down her face, as well.

"I hope this doesn't ruin your tough girl image", Kate smiled. They both laughed through their tears, as they remembered the brave, kind, woman who had given them these last, beautiful, six centuries.

**Author's Note:**

> This started when I remembered a fic where Max's powers worked differently, changing objects, rather than her going back and changing things. That led to the idea of turning back Chloe and Kate to just before their deaths. Then I thought why not have Max send them back, and see how they live the next few centuries?
> 
> Volunteers is performed by Jefferson Airplane.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this.


End file.
